A ‘foreign game’—President Hyde and GAA Rule 27

The second leg of the first ever soccer match between Poland and Ireland, which took place in Dublin on 15 November 1938, was attended by the president of Ireland, Douglas Hyde, and Taoiseach Éamon de Valera. The result was a 3–1 win for Ireland. As a result of his attendance, President Hyde was removed as patron of the GAA. At that time, Rule 27, or ‘the ban’, prohibited members of the GAA from playing games or attending functions organised by those promoting ‘foreign’ sports.

Let’s leave it to Consul Dobrzyński to share his pre-match recollections:

‘One event, a sporting one, deserves a special mention: it was proclaimed by the Irish papers as a “historic date” in the annals of Irish sport. It was an encounter of the Irish and Polish football teams, which took place on November the 13th, 1938. I knew something about the attitude of the Gaelic circles towards the Football Association of Ireland and the game itself, but I decided to try. It just happened that sometime before the match was due my wife and I were having tea at Aras Uachtara [sic] with Dr Douglas Hyde, the President and his sister Mrs Canbreth Kane. During the conversation I addressed the President as casually as possible: “I wonder, Mr President, would you kindly accept our invitation to the Irish–Polish football match?” “Of course I will,” answered the grand old man. “Do send an invitation to Mr de Valera as well. I am sure he will also accept.”

And then with that charmingly humorous twinkle in the eye, so characteristic of him [he said]: “But listen, I would like to greet your boys in their own language! Could you suggest anything short?” I scribbled two words, Witam, Panów, and handed them over to the President. “How do you pronounce it?”, he asked. “Veetam, Panoov,” I answered. “And the meaning of it?” “Welcome, Gentlemen.” “Splendid, splendid!”, concluded the President. And this is how it happened that on the appointed day there appeared at Dalymount Park the highest authorities of Ireland, represented by the President, by Mr de Valera and two cabinet ministers to officially attend, for the first time, an Association Football match. I followed the President onto the pitch to introduce him to my country’s team. When Dr Hyde came level with the first in the row he said in a clear voice, Witam, Panow! Delighted to be greeted in their own language, the Polish team shouted back in the Polish boy-scouts way Czołem, Panie Prezydencie! [‘We salute you, Mr President!’].

Above: President Douglas Hyde, with Polish Consul General Wacław Tadeusz Dobrzyński just behind him, greets the Polish players at Dalymount Park on 15 November 1938. (Cantwell Family Archives)

'

That field of glory. The story of Clontarf, from battleground to garden suburb Read More

Darkest Dublin: The story of the Church Street disaster and a pictorial account of the slums of Dublin in 1913Read More

Personal Histories

Personal Histories is an initiative by History Ireland,
which aims to capture the individual histories of Irish
people both in Ireland and around the world. It is hoped
to build an extensive database reflecting Irish lives,
giving them a chance to be heard, remembered and to
add their voice to the historical record.
Click Here to go to the Personal Histories page

On this Day

1981 Sir Norman Stronge, former speaker of the Stormont parliament, and his son James were shot dead by the Provisional IRA at their home, Tynan Abbey, close to the Armagh/Monaghan border.

1933 George Moore (80), author, notably of Esther Waters (1894), and leading light in the Irish Literary Revival, died.

1924 Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (53), communist revolutionary and premier of the Soviet Union since 1922, died of a stroke.

1922 The Craig–Collins agreement promised an end to the ‘Belfast Boycott’—the ban on northern goods coming into the South—in return for Catholics intimidated out of the Belfast shipyards being allowed to return.

1919 The first Dáil Éireann convened at the Mansion House, Dublin.

Above: Scene from the Battle of Isandlwana, 22 January 1879, the British Army’s heaviest military defeat by the Zulus. (Maynooth University Library)

1879(Jan.21–23)The Battle of Isandlwana/Rorke’s Drift. For many, the six-month Zulu War, prompted by the invasion of King Cetshwayo’s independent kingdom by British colonial forces under Lord Chelmsford, is viewed through the prism of the 1964 movie Zulu, which portrayed, with considerable artistic licence, the epic defence of a mission station—named after Irishman James Rorke, who had a trading store there— by c. 100 British troops (including a dozen or so Irishmen) against c. 3,000 Zulus. Thanks to Chelmsford, this strategically insignificant engagement was widely publicised. The bravery and self-sacrifice of the plucky Brits was applauded—no mention was made, of course, of their execution of c. 500 Zulu prisoners—and no less than eleven VCs were awarded (in contrast with one VC each for the 1944 D-Day landings and the entire Battle of Britain). All of this was designed by Chelmsford to distract British public attention from what had preceded it: the crushing defeat of his army at Isandlwana, with the loss of over 1,300 of his men, including many Irishmen, by the main c. 20,000-strong Zulu army, armed with spears and shields. While British gallantry was duly extolled (such as the heroic last stand of County Leitrim’s Col. Anthony Durnford and the valiant but fatal effort by Dubliner Lt. Nevill Coghill to retrieve his regiment’s colours), her historians are still trying to explain the defeat. Causes include the lack of screwdrivers to loosen the screws on the ammunition boxes. From a Zulu perspective, Isandlwana was a glorious victory—but a pyrrhic one. Cetshwayo knew that the British would regroup and re-invade, which they did. Superior numbers and technology prevailed, and by July, after six more battles, Zululand was entirely subjugated.